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2 EPISD incumbent trustees lose seats; Loveridge, Hanany, Sutton, Osterland win races [1]
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Date: 2025-05-03
The balance of power on El Paso Independent School District’s governing board of trustees is set to shift after four aligned candidates won their races in a low turnout election Saturday.
Four incumbent trustees were on the ballot this year, and only two of them held their seats: Leah Hanany, with 60% of the vote, and Jack Loveridge with 72% of votes cast. Hanany has represented District 1 on the board since 2021. Loveridge was appointed to represent District 3 last year.
Fewer than 3% of registered voters in EPISD districts up for election cast a ballot.
“I think the big concern we should all have as El Pasoans is the low turnout,” Loveridge told El Paso Matters.
Incumbents Isabel Hernandez and Israel Irrobali, the school board’s current president, lost to newcomer challengers.
Mindy Sutton speaks at an election night event ahead of her win for the El Paso ISD District 4 trustee race, May 3, 2025. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)
Mindy Sutton, who challenged Hernandez in the District 4 race, won her race with nearly 63% of the vote. And Robert Osterland topped Irrobali after garnering 55% of the vote in the District 5 race.
Sutton, who works as a senior instructor at the Otero County Detention Center, said she visited over 3,000 homes in the district in Northeast El Paso. And she said being responsive to voters’ texts and phone calls was one of the reasons she defeated an incumbent.
“The Northeast in general is always ignored and underserved. So, I will bring attention to us. I will make sure that we have the resources we need,” Sutton said.
The winners will shift the majority between two factions within the board. The factions were created when the board voted in November to close eight elementary schools next year to address declining enrollment and budget deficits. About 270 employees are being reassigned to other schools.
Sutton, Loveridge, Hanany and Osterland were endorsed by the El Paso Teachers Association, an employee union that opposed EPISD’s plan to close eight schools. The four winning candidates held a joint election night watch party in Central El Paso on Saturday.
Irrobali and Hernandez voted in favor of shuttering schools.
Four of the eight schools EPISD plans to close next year are in Districts 1 and 3. The question of what to do with soon-to-be-empty campuses – whether to sell, repurpose or pursue some other option – is the next challenge for the school board.
Sutton said some schools may need to be closed, but she said voters didn’t get enough of a chance to offer feedback or thoughts.
EPISD voters “wish there was more transparency within the district, and there was more communication when it comes to the community, because so many people had a lot of opinions that were never heard,” she said.
Leah Hanany greets former city Rep. Emma Acosta during an election watch party for the El Paso ISD District 1 trustee race, May 3, 2025. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)
Hanany voted against the district’s school closure plan and particularly protested closing Lamar Elementary – one of EPISD’s highest-performing schools. On Saturday, she said voters “came together seeking to be represented, seeking to be seen.”
“I think this is a referendum on the school district’s approach,” Hanany said. “What we have seen over the last decades is closures en masse without any tangible outcomes on the other side of it. I think community members are frustrated about that, and rightly so.”
Jack Loveridge greets a supporter at an election watch party for the El Paso ISD trustee seat for District 3, May 3, 2025. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)
Loveridge, who voted against the closures, also called the election results Saturday a referendum on EPISD’s consolidation plan.
“Not necessarily on the plan itself, but how it was undertaken. I think that there was a different pattern possible, that had more concern for disparities across the district,” Loveridge said. “I think that what we saw across all four races was a groundswell of support.”
Now that he secured a four-year term after being appointed to the board last year, Loveridge said his main priorities for his district are to address student absenteeism – which hurts EPISD financially. And also to ensure “that Austin High School has the resources it needs to invest properly in the Sandra Day O’Connor Magnet,” he said.
Robert Osterland applauds a speaker at an election night event for the El Paso ISD District 5 trustee race, May 3, 2025. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)
Osterland, a retired veteran who ousted Irrobali, the board president, said voters disliked Irrobali’s controversial employment as the executive director of the El Paso Association of Contractors. Irrobali has said he would consult with the district’s lawyers and recuse himself from voting on a contract if necessary.
Going forward, Osterland said schools that are in such disrepair that renovations are too costly or infeasible should be closed. And he said his main priority is improving teacher staffing levels.
“My first thing I want to do is get an understanding on why we’re losing so many teachers. I think that’s got to be the first and foremost,” Osterland. “There are too many more options, better options outside of EPISD. And it’s more appealing.”
Like Sutton, he said he planned to stay in close contact with voters and constituents.
“I gave my personal number so that I could have this input from the community,” Osterland said. “I need voters’ ideas, their wishes, what their concerns are. We formulate a plan, and then we act on it.”
Fundraising was significant during this round of school board races.
The Kids First of El Paso PAC raised over $96,000 in donations, including $17,600 in-kind contributions for political mailers, dwarfing the size of many other contributors in the race, campaign finance reports show.
The PAC spent over $41,500 backing Irrobali, Hernandez and Benjamin in the EPISD election.
A new committee funded by parents and community leaders who oppose the El Paso district’s plan to close schools, known as the Parents Protecting Schools PAC, raised just over $10,000 and took out about $5,600 in loans to fund its campaign.
The PAC spent roughly $11,000 supporting Leah Hanany, Jack Loveridge and Mindy Sutton and opposing Isabel Hernandez, Irrobali and Benjamin in the EPISD races.
Hanany collected over $9,900 in political contributions, according to her most recent campaign finance reports. Her largest donations included $2,000 from Georgina Williams and $1,000 each from state Sen. César Blanco, Frontera Vision PAC and Texas Realtors PAC.
She received over $4,600 during the last filing period, bringing her total to over $14,500.
Her opponent Monica Benjamin reported raising $400 in small donations for the current filing period. She also received over $8,900 in in-kind donations from Kids First PAC, including door hangers, mailers and graphic design services.
During the last filing period, she raised nearly $1,100, bringing her total donations to $1,500.
Loveridge raised nearly $3,100 in contributions, which included $1,000 from the Texas Realtors PAC and $500 from attorney Lynn A. Coyle. He also received over $500 in in-kind donations for food and drinks for a campaign event from Georgina Williams.
Loveridge collected nearly $17,700 during the last filing period, bringing his campaign total to nearly $20,800.
Loveridge’s opponent, John Ponce De Leon, raised just over $4,000, according to his most recent campaign finance reports. His largest donation reported came from Nancy Bombach, who gave $1,000. Ponce De Leon also made multiple donations to his own campaign totaling about $1,900.
In total, he has raised over $5,600.
Sutton reported raising about $1,600 in campaign contributions for the current filing period – bringing her total fundraising to about $3,200. None of her donations were above $250.
Hernandez reported raising $300, bringing her total to $600 raised for the race.
Irrobali reported raising about $11,200. His main donors were $1,000 from the Texas Realtors PAC, and about $10,000 in in-kind donations from the Kids First PAC. The in-kind services included graphic design, text messaging and door hangers.
Melvin Milton reported raising about $1,700 for the current reporting period with the largest contribution coming from consultant Kathy Thomas, who gave $1,200.
Osterland donated $4,000 to his own campaign for the current filing period, bringing his total for the campaign to about $10,450. He donated $5,000 to his own campaign during the previous reporting period.
Final results:
District 1 (Bowie/El Paso high schools area)
Monica Elena Benjamin, 50, stay-at-home mother and office administrator: 37.4%
Leah Hanany , 42, EPISD District 1 trustee and financial advisor: 60%
, 42, EPISD District 1 trustee and financial advisor: 60% Nelson Bank, 75, former teacher: 2.5%
District 3 (Austin high area)
Jack Loveridge , 40, digital history startup founder, EPISD District 3 trustee: 72.5%
, 40, digital history startup founder, EPISD District 3 trustee: 72.5% John Ponce De Leon, 39, public relations director: 27.6%
District 4 (Chapin/Irvin high areas)
Mindy Sutton , 44, senior instructor at the Otero County Detention Center: 63%
, 44, senior instructor at the Otero County Detention Center: 63% Isabel Hernandez, 64, retired and EPISD District 4 trustee: 33%
Juan Duran, 57, special education teacher: 4%
District 5 (Andress high area)
Robert Osterland , 48, a retired veteran and nonprofit youth basketball coach: 53.4%
, 48, a retired veteran and nonprofit youth basketball coach: 53.4% Melvin Milton, 44, mobility manager in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs: 14.5%
Israel Irrobali, 34, executive director of the El Paso Association of Contractors and EPISD District 4 trustee: 32% .
Newly elected trustees will take office this summer. Trustees are unpaid and serve four-year terms. The seats are nonpartisan.
The seven-member board governs the 49,000-student district, sets its vision, oversees the superintendent, adopts the annual operating budget and sets the tax rate. The current board adopted a budget of $542 million with a $18.5 million deficit for this school year.
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https://elpasomatters.org/2025/05/03/el-paso-election-results-episd-school-board-may-3-2025/
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